Fort Kent to recoup $321,974 in stolen funds

FORT KENT – Six years after a former town office manager embezzled $508,000 in excise taxes and apparently committed suicide, litigation has ended and the town has recouped more than half its losses.

Marilyn Deschaine had been a town employee for almost 30 years and was supervisor of the town office staff when she allegedly jumped off the Fish River Bridge at Fort Kent Mills on May 10, 1997. Her body was recovered more than a week later.

Investigators concluded she embezzled more than $508,000 from the town and left an estate worth more than $700,000 after her death, according to court records. The estate included investments worth $496,260 and real estate appraised at $218,796.

On Monday night, the Town Council learned the town was getting $321,974, but minus expenses, the final accounting and claim nets $266,413.

The money has come from a $50,000 insurance payment in 1997 to the town because of the embezzlement; $179,845 from Deschaine’s estate settled in December 2001; and $92,129 received last week from the probated estate as final payment to the town.

Settling the case, however, has cost the town $40,760 in attorney fees and $14,800 for an audit of accounts.

“It should be noted that the expenses do not include any of my time, staff time or travel expenses for court appearances that were incurred during the past six years,” Town Manager Don Guimond said Monday night. “If this were taken into account, the actual expenses would be considerably higher.”

Guimond said Tuesday that Fort Kent’s $321,974 settlement was all the town would see of its more than $508,000 loss.

“That’s all that’s left,” Guimond said.

According to audited reports filed with the courts, the town’s claim against the estate was for $508,000, the amount embezzled over a seven-year period from Jan 1, 1990, until Deschaine’s death.

Also filing claims against the estate were the state and federal governments for unpaid income tax on the embezzled funds.

In March 2002, Gary A. Severson, a Houlton attorney who is Deschaine’s personal representative, filed amended state and federal income tax forms for several years that included the embezzled funds.

At the time, Severson could not reveal the amount of money involved in the claims made by the state and federal governments.

Attempts made Tuesday to reach the Houlton attorney were unsuccessful.

Guimond said Tuesday that two homes owned by Deschaine at the time of her death had been sold to settle the estate.

With the final $92,129 installment in hand, councilors on Monday night were quick to divide the funds among a variety of unfunded, approved municipal projects.